Camera-bed.



J. A. ROBERTSON.

CAMERA BED.

APPLIOATIQN FILED 00124, 1910.

1,096,954. I Patented May 19, 1914.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIG.

JOHN A. ROBERTSON, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO EASTMAN KODAK GO., OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CAMERA-BED.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 19, 1914,.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, JOHN A. ROBERTSON, of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Camera- Beds; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and to the reference-numerals marked thereon.

My present invention relates to photography and more particularly to photographic cameras and it has for its object to improve the construction of the camera bed, particularly in folding cameras in which the bed also serves as the door to the interior, to the end that the assembling of the bed and its various attached parts may be expedited and rendered more convenient and the exterior finish of the camera preserved in all its parts without danger of mutilation during assembling.

To these and other ends the invention consists in certain improvements and combinations of parts all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the specification.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a camera and the bed thereof constructed in accordance with and illustrating one embodiment of my invention; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the bed, detached; Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the cover plate alone; Fig. f is a transverse enlarged section through the bed taken substantially on the line H of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is a fragmentary enlarged longitudinal section through the bed taken substantially on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2 showing the members of which the bed is formed partially separated.

Similar reference numerals throughout the several figures indicate the same parts.

Referring more particularly to the drawings wherein I have illustrated a common type of folding pocket camera, inasmuch as I contemplate the use of the improvements in connection with such, A indicates, generally, the body or casing of the camera having the hinged door, indicated generally by B, which door also serves as the bed on which the camera front 0, connected to the body by the bellows D, travels.

The bed carries on its upper side a number of attachments, which are shown in the present instance to comprise a track 1 for the front, brackets 2 for the links 3 which support the bed or door in extended position, a socket 4 by means of which the camera may be detachably mounted on a tripod or other support, a stop plate 5 for the front, a rack 6 with which a pinion cooperates that causes the front to travel on the track, and the focusing scale 7, all of which parts are more or less familiar to the art. The body or casing A of the camera, as well as both sides of the bed and door B, are usually given an attractive finish as by covering them with leather or other suitable facing material, indicated at 8 in Figs. 4 and 5, and this covering or facing has heretofore been applied before the various attachments mentioned and others were put in I place because, among other reasons, these attachments are positioned on top of the facing in order not to necessitate the laborious work of cutting around them. Thus, when the camera is turned over to the assembler to receive the attachments it has already been to the finisher and the assembler must exercise great care that the attractiveness of the finish be not impaired. This places the assembler under hardships more particularly in so far as the bed B is concerned which it is more convenient to place with its outer or under side down on the work table for freedom in applying the attachments to the upper or inner side, yet in so doing the under facing on the bed is likely to become scratched and mutilated. In the practice ofthe present invention, however, this course may be taken without concern with respect to the underside of the member to which the attachments are being applied, and to this end I form the bed B of a body plate 9 and a cover plate 10, separate therefrom. The body plate 9 preferably carries a hinged connection 11 and while its upper or inner side may be covered with the facing 8, its under side is not, but is left with its crude surface when given to the assembler, and there is therefore no harm in allowing this side to come in rough contact with the bench or other objects. The outer facing 8 is applied, instead, to the cover plate 10, the edges of which latter are turned over on both sides and at one end to form flanged portions 12 which, when the attachments 1 to 7 have been applied to the body plate 9, interlock with the edges of the latter with a sliding movement as the cover plate is moved to the position on the bed plate, shown in Fig. 2, wherein it extends across and conceals the rough underside of the body plate and may be suitably secured against disengagement as by screws or fasteners at 13. It not only covers this underside, but its flanges 12 also conceal the raw edges thereof and of the facing material.

Another advantage accruing from the practice of the present invention is that where heretofore it was found necessary to use screws or other expensive devices to fasten the attachments l to 7 to the bed, inasmuch as they could not well extend entirely through the latter when formed in one piece, with the two piece construction herein de scribed rivets, such as shown at it in Fig. 4, may be used, their outer ends being accessible from the under side of the body plate for. heading over and being subsequently concealed by the cover plate 12. In the present instance, the fasteners for the track 1 are supplied through the provision of extensions or ears 15 thereon that pass through the bed plate and are also headed over.

The cover plate 10 may be provided with suitable openings to admit any parts that it is wished to have cooperate with the body plate 9 or its attachments, such as the opening 16 that moves into alinement with the tripod socket a when the parts 9 and 10 are assembled.

I claim as my invention:

1. A camera bed comprising a body plate having the camera attachments secured to the upper side thereof and a cover plate stationarily secured upon the body plate and covering its under side, the coverplate be ing interlocked with the body plate independently of the mounting of the camera attachments.

2. In a folding camera, the combination with a camera casing having a covering of acing material, of a door for the casing constituting a camera bed comprising a body plate having the camera attachments secured to the upper side thereof, and a cover plate stationarily secured upon the body plate, and interlocked therewith independently of the mounting of the camera attachments, the cover plate extending over the underside of the body plate and covered on its outer surface with a facing corresponding to that on the camera body.

3. In a camera bed, the combination with a body plate having the camera attachments on its upper side and securing devices therefor extending through the plate to its under side, of a cover plate extending over the under surface of the body plate and station arily secured upon the latter, the cover plate being interlocked with the body plate independently of the securing devices of the attachments.

4. A camera bed comprising a body plate having the camera attachments secured to its upper side and a cover plate extending over the under or outer surface of the body plate, the cover plate being stationarily secured upon and interlocked with the body plate.

5. A camera bed comprising a body plate having the camera attachments secured to the upper side thereof, and a cover plate stationarily secured upon the body plate and extending over the under or outer surface of the latter, the cover plate having flanges interlocked over the edges of the body plate.

6. The combination with a folding camera, of a hinged door therefor constituting a bed and comprising a body plate carrying the hinged connection and to which the camera attachments are secured, and a cover plate stationarily secured upon the body plate and extending over the outer or under side thereof, the cover plate having an interlocking connection with the body plate.

RUSSELL B. GRIFFITH,

FLOPENOE E. hnaxon.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

